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Cosmology
The nature of the cosmology of the world is not accurately known but is heavily speculated, and at times is inconsistent or inexplicable. Different gods can be viewed as neither definitively true nor false, even where the existence of one contradicts the other. The existence of "magic" is highly controversial and explanations for the seemingly supernatural run from divine influence, to a force of physics and science not yet understood, to outright sheer coincidence. Theories Permeable Reality Theory One major theory is the concept of a strictly rational and scientific reality running parallel to various unrealities which can occasionally influence the nature of reality. This may explain the overlap in deities in different religions and how said overlapping deities may be interpreted differently by different faiths: they share a source in unreality but upon interaction with reality they diverge. Shadow Theory Shadow theory describes how the supernatural resides in that which we do not understand and is chased away when we understand it, but is not eliminated, much like how shedding light on an area may banish shadows but in doing so creates shadows elsewhere. Where the reality of a subject is revealed it does not erase its supernatural nature but simply pushes it elsewhere. For example scientific analysis of light and energy may eliminate the supernatural explanations for light and energy, but in doing so poses other, more existential questions about the why and the how light and energy exist in the first place, questions in which the supernatural now resides. It is worth noting that the theory rests on the assumption that the preexisting supernatual explanation was not wrong but that explaining and understanding it fundamentally alters the subject such that the supernatural explanation no longer applies. In effect, the theory would describe the supernatural as residing in questions. Where a question is answered, the supernatural shifts and moves into new questions that arise from the answer. Mist Theory A related theory is mist theory. However mist theory is a much more scientific explanation and would hold that the supernatural explanation was wrong, much like how one might mistakenly describe a rock as a person when viewed through mist, and that the supernatural explanation was merely a fiction projected onto questions. Emotive theory Emotive theory is a very controversial theory, holding that the supernatural is real but arises from fiction and emotion. In effect the power of people's emotion and belief, described as another form of "energy" much as light or heat is, creates the supernatural. If an entire society were to collectively believe in an all-powerful god, said all-powerful god would come into existence and retroactively exist for all time. The theory is contradictory where it does not embrace the concept of a fundamentally subjective reality. What is true for one society or individual may not be true for another society or individual even though they live in the same "reality". In effect the theory would hold that "reality" is composed of billions of subjective personal "sub-realities" built within the minds of its members. One cannot study one single "true" reality but can observe trends in "sub-realities" and try to further develop the understanding of reality within the context of your own "sub-reality" and those that share it. For example, if an atheist were to die, under emotive theory he simultaneously stops existing (in his own sub-reality), continues existing in hell (in the sub-reality of the devoutly Soltiric), and is passed on into a neutral otherworld (in the sub-reality of followers of Ardairian Paganism). These contradictory outcomes are all equally and concurrently "true" as there is no single "truth". Each truth is "created" by the belief and emotion of a society.